Four-Legged Malestrom
by Lucillia
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto. Loud, determined to never quit, dreams of becoming Hokage someday and Sasuke's bestest friend in the whole wide world. Oh, and did I mention that he's also furry, nine-tailed, and the unwitting jailor of his father the Kyuubi no Yoko?
1. Chapter 1

Being sealed away, the Kyuubi had time and motivation to do little things like think. One of the things the Kyuubi constantly thought about and frequently tried was escape. All attempts he had made had failed so far. Attempts at persuaision didn't work. Attempts at sending his Chakra through to control his host's mind didn't work. He didn't give up though. With the mind out, he decided to try the body.

After a great deal of exploration, one of his questing Chakra tendrils found a promising orifice through which it might be possible to exit. Pushing more Chakra in that direction, the Kyuubi was incredibly surprised to find that something was absorbing it at a prodigious rate. The more he pushed through, the more that small something absorbed. Eventually, after he'd depleted nearly a quarter of his Chakra, he ceased his ten-thousandth failed escape attempt.

Neither Kushina nor her husband would have any idea of the consequences of this escape attempt by the Kyuubi for another ten months. Following the discovery of Kushina's pregnancy - which had been a complete surprise to both her and Minato since they'd been taking precautions against children- the medics overseeing her care were constantly frustrated in their attempts at examining the growing fetus due to the interference caused by the Kyuubi's Chakra. Eventually, the pregnancy had run its course, and in due time it was time for Naruto's birth which was to take place in a cave outside of the village due to the possibility of the Kyuubi escaping while Kushina gave birth.

The march through the woods to the cave was relatively silent due to the fact that Kushina's contractions were still several minutes apart and there was a small herd of midwives following her and helping her with the pain as each contraction came. Eventually, the young red-head was led into the birthing chamber which had been specially created for Uzumaki Mito decades earlier after the birth of Hashirama and Mito's firstborn had caused quite the ruckus when the Kyuubi had nearly escaped Mito's seal. Everyone took positions, and the long wait began.

Eventually, the labor during which the Kyuubi's frantic escape attempts intensified as the contractions grew closer and closer came to its final stage and the new baby began to crown, causing Sarutobi Biwako to order Kushina to start pushing. Namikaze Minato held the seal on his wife's abdomen as Kushina pushed. He almost turned to look when he'd heard the startled "Oh Dear!", but knew he couldn't take his focus off of his task for even a second at this critical juncture.

Soon, the Kyuubi was almost entirely pushed back and Minato's newly born and freshly cleaned son was brought into his view as he was laid on Kushina's chest. Upon spotting the child, Minato nearly let the Kyuubi slip from the seal in shock.

"He's...Naruto's..." Minato started, at a loss for words as he looked down at his son, nearly letting the Kyuubi slip through the seal once more due to his distraction. He'd been warned by his predecessor who'd grown up with Hashirama's children that his and Kushina's son would have some Kyuubilike traits, but he'd been led to expect whisker marks on the cheeks, slightly feral behavior, and a propensity for eating raw meat, not...

"Oh!" Kushina exclaimed as she gently ran a finger over one of her newborn son's tiny ears. "He's perfect!"

Perfect wasn't what he would've chosen. He chose not to say anything and completely ruin the moment though.

The moment was ruined an instant later when a masked intruder killed the midwives and snatched Kushina's newborn son however...

* * *

Three days after the Kyuubi attack, Sarutobi Hiruzen was left with a problem he didn't know how to deal with. Killing the blanket wrapped bundle that was in his arms would be the logical choice, especially in light of the report that he'd received from the medics who had examined it following the Kyuubi attack, except for one small thing...

Not having another Uzumaki on hand, Minato had sealed the Kyuubi into its son. If the boy were killed, the Kyuubi would eventually reform elsewhere and have a very good reason for actively wanting to completely obliterate Konoha rather than just randomly rampage through the village on its way to gods knew where like it had done after being released from its seal.

People were calling for blood. Blood he could not give them if he wanted to keep the village safe.

Coning to a decision, the newly reinstated Sandaime decided to do the only thing he could think to do in this situation. That was to turn things back on the village rather than the Kyuubi's jailor which must be kept alive at all costs despite what people might personally think about it. A jailor that unfortunately the whole village knew about rather than the few who needed to know, and the few who had found out later. Despite Kumo's having kidnapped Kushina over the fact that she was a Jinchurriki, few people really knew that Kushina had been the host of the Nine-tails. That wasn't the case now.

Few people had really known for a fact where the Kyuubi had been since the Valley of the End, though many had had their suspicions. Others who had known about Mito hadn't known or hadn't known for certain that Kushina had been the Kyuubi's jailor. Then, there was the fact that the Kyuubi which had somehow managed to impregnate Kushina had not shown an obvious gender...

Using these facts and his knowledge of the unknowing ignorance of the average Konoha citizen, Hiruzen began to map out a new reality for the boy and the village.

Crafting a fairytale of an angry mother animal that had been riled up by a person or persons unknown, and a Yondaime who had found a baby animal in a cave and begged for mercy on it before he died after sealing mother inside of child, the unretired Hokage stroked the small, red-furred, nine-tailed baby fox that now rested on a blanket in his lap with the hand that wasn't writing the tale that would probably have Danzo wondering if he'd completely lost touch with reality. When the last words of the sentimental mush that was meant to pull at the heartstrings of the civilians and quite a few of the shinobi who still had feelings were written down, the Hokage put down the claim that the small animal who would likely be able to speak one day was named Uzumaki after the family of Uzumaki Mito who had sealed the Kyuubi in an "undisclosed location" from which it had been inadvertently been released after the Valley of the End, and Naruto since it had been the name the Yondaime had picked for the creature he had carried out of the cave on the night of his death. Both reasons for Uzumaki Naruto's naming were technically true, but not in the way he was intimating.

* * *

Two days after the Hokage's missive detailing how someone had allegedly messed with the Kyuubi which had just been trying to protect its kid went out, Uchiha Fugaku stood and stared down the four members of his clan who had been summoned to his office.

"Explain yourselves." he said to the four young men who were nervously shifting in place, intimidated by his cold, silent glare.

"Explain what Fugaku-sama?" one of the men who was only just out of his teens asked.

"Several villagers claim to have seen you four entering the forest on the night of the Kyuubi attack with a case of beer in your possession." Fugaku snapped.

"We never went anywhere near the Kyuubi!" one of the men who was technically a teen exclaimed, realizing what he'd been accused of.

"Damn, we didn't know the Kyuubi was even in those woods until we woke up the next morning and found out there was an attack!" one of the others said.

 **Edited 1/2/16.**


	2. Chapter 2

Itachi's eyes widened. This was going to be trouble.

He'd brought his toddling little brother to the park just outside the new compound which had been built for the Uchiha to live in because the boy had spotted the top of the swingset from the open gates of the compound and had demanded to know what they were. Sasuke had had a great deal of fun on the swings before contenting himself with playing in the sand when Itachi had turned away for a second to swat a bug that didn't belong to the Aburame and scratch the bite it had left behind.

In the handful of seconds it had taken to deal with the annoyance that had randomly flown over and bit him, Sasuke had gotten up, gone over to a small fluffy creature that was being walked through the park by a sour looking shinobi and promptly grabbed it and hugged it like it was a stuffed toy. Fortunately for his, Sasuke's and the animal's sake, the ninja animal that Sasuke had latched onto oblivious to the possible dangers of doing so hadn't turned around and bitten Sasuke.

He would've killed it if it had, regardless of the consequences.

As he approached his brother and the shinobi who had been walking his ninja animal which looked strangely familiar, though for the life of him he couldn't figure out why since he'd never seen it before in his entire life - all seven years of it -, the shinobi yelled "Hey! Get off you!" at Sasuke. Sasuke was having none of it however, and was clinging to the creature looking like he was about to throw a fit. At the point that he had reached the sour looking shinobi, the man had reached down to physically separate his brother from the animal, and Sasuke had started to fight him, shrieking "Mine!" as he did so.

"I'm sorry," Itachi said as he reached down to grab his wayward little brother who struggled to keep his hold on the leashed ninja animal. "I just turned away for a second, and..."

"You'd better keep a better eye on that brat." the sour looking shinobi practically snarled. "The last thing I need is something happening on my watch, especially to one of you lot who got me stuck with monstersitting duty!"

It was then that Itachi realized why the ninja animal looked so familiar despite the fact that he'd never seen it before. Upon realizing exactly what Sasuke had latched onto, he felt mildy ashamed of himself for not having realized despite the nine tiny tails waving about. The fact that there were many odd ninja creatures that didn't match standard members of their species wasn't an excuse.

His baby brother had latched onto the Kyuubi no Youko's kit. The kit that his clan had been accused of orphaning by riling its mother which had gone and attacked the village that had been unwittingly and unknowingly located near its den.

Many said that it was because of members of his clan that the Yondaime Hokage, many great shinobi, and a mother monster fox which had only been trying to protect its young had died on that autumn night two years ago.

Ignoring his brothers cries over the loss of his new toy and the nine-tailed ball of fur that strained on its leash behind him, Itachi did the only thing he could do in the situation. He picked his brother up, and carried him back to the compound where his mother would be waiting for them at home.

* * *

Naruto bit at the leash that kept him from going after the tiny person who had hugged him. He knew what hugs were. He'd seen the big people give the little people hugs, and he'd seen the little people give each-other hugs. Hugs were good things. Good things he had never got until now. The hug had been strange and slightly painful, but it had been a hug, and hugs were good. He'd seen that they were good when he'd been dragged outside for walks so he'd "do his business".

The people who were given hugs got happy after they got them.

He wanted to be happy. He wasn't happy. The only times he had been happy before were when he was with the old man who sometimes came to look at him. He wanted to be happy, and in order to be so, he would need to go and get the little person who had given him a hug so he could get more hugs and be happy like people who got hugs were.

"Stop it you!" the grumpy person who'd walked him around the park said as he yanked on the leash that kept him from the little person, nearly strangling him.

"It seems you've had more than enough "fresh air" for the day." the shinobi snapped before he turned and dragged him back to that dark indoor place with the towel he was supposed to sleep on.

Whining over the fact that he was indoors away from the little huggy person, he scratched at the door that separated him from the outside world to show that he needed a walk. He didn't have to "do business", but he needed a walk. He needed a walk to find the little huggy person.

"Quit that you!" the grumpy big person said before he picked him up and plopped him down on his sleeping towel.

"Go to sleep!" the grumpy person grumbled.

He didn't though. He tried to escape seven times, and the grumpy person who grumbled about how he hated him and didn't want to be watching him put him back on his sleeping towel every time.

* * *

"What's Sasuke pouting about now?" Fugaku asked his wife as he got into bed for the first time in three nights. His son had been moody all evening and had been whining about something or other all through dinner and bedtime. The boy had asked for his "fluffy", but every time he had tried to hand the boy one of the small number of stuffed animals he owned, the boy had rejected it.

"Itachi took Sasuke to a nearby park and Sasuke took a shine to an animal they encountered." Mikoto said, wondering why Itachi had been so vague about the whole thing despite the fact that the brother that he was so overprotective of had come home bawling in their arms. She had been left with the distinct impression that Itachi wouldn't have told her a single thing if Sasuke hadn't still been crying when the two of them had gotten home.

"We're not getting Sasuke a pet. He's too young." Fugaku said before he nodded off now that that mystery was solved and that worry was shelved, confident that his word on this matter was law.

Sitting in the spot outside his parents's bedroom that he had snuck to as soon as he was sure his parents were going to turn in for the night, Itachi heaved a sigh of relief. He had feared that his father would've been told exactly which "animal" his brother had encountered and that there would be trouble. His father had heard nothing of the encounter though, so as long as he didn't say or do anything to give the game away, then it would be as if nothing had happened.

Except for Sasuke constantly demanding the Kyuubi's kit that was.

Sasuke would forget however, just as he always forgot a thwarted desire, a sweet not given, a toy not received despite the numerous demands he made for it.

Until then, he would just weather the tantrums and hope his parents never found out what it was that Sasuke had encountered, especially considering his family's history with its mother. His parents wouldn't let him out of their sight with Sasuke if they did.


End file.
